Fountain-brush.



No. 886,996. PATBNTBD MAY 5, 1908. H. L. LORING.

FOUNTAIN BRUSH.

APPLIOATIoN FILED 111111.11, 1907.

w l. v u

HENRY LORING, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

FOUNTAIN-BRUSH.

no. ssaeee.

Specification of Letters Patent.

ratented ltay 5.,

Application filled March 11, 1907. Serial No. 361,754.

To all whom it' may concer/n.:

i. ,Be it knownthat I,\HENRY L. LoRrNd, a

citizen of the United States, residing at Ohi-4 cado, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented new and useful Im rovements in Fountain-Brushes, of whic the following is a full, clear,- conci'se-eand exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, forming a part of this specification.

This invention relates to improvements in fountain brushes, one ,of the objects of the invention being the provision of a device of this kind having simple and efficient means for supplying liquid from the reservoir to the bristles of the brush.

Another-object of the invention is to provide such a device in which the loss of liquid b leakage, evaporation or otherwise is w oily prevented when the device is not in use.

*A further object is to provide a brush in Which-the strength and durability of certain forward end with a parts of the brush are not impaired.

In the accompanying dr ings I have shown my invention as appl ed to a toothbrush, but it is to be understood that this in vention, while particularly Well adapted for use in connection with a rush of this kind, is also adapted for use with other brushes, 'and I illustrate its application to a toothbrush merely for convenience.

Inf these drawings Figure 1 is an elevational side view of a toothbrush provided with meansembodying my invention; 1g. 2

is a central longitudinal section of the same;

Fig. 3 is a broken view, artly in section, of the rear end of the hand e of the brush; and

4 is a cross-sectional view, the section being taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. 2, looking in the direction indicated by the arrows.

VIn the several figures of the drawings, in which like reference numerals indicate the same parts throughout,

5 is the brush proper, and 6 is a hollow handle 'constituting a fountain or reservoir. This reservoir may be cylindrical. in form and ma be mede of sheet metal, such as nickehp ated brass, or hard rubber or similar material.' This reservoir 6 is rovided at its tapered end-piece 7 adapted to be slipped into the end of the res` ervoir 6 and vto fit tightly therein. The endiece 7 is provided with an opening 8 extend# mg' centrally therethrough. The end piece .of plug 7 is also provided with a duct or pas-` l flange 18 which is formed on the sage 9 of smaller diameter than the opening 8, the passage 9 being inclined so as to inem@ into the opening 8.

The brush 5 has a oylindrically-iormedneck or shank 10, this neck being adapted te fit snugly in the assage 8 in the plug? se to make a tight fil, therein. A short tube i2, of small diameter, is inserted into the 'brassage 9, and, with this passage, forms a duct for conducting liquid to the bristles of the brush. The end-piece 7 is rovided with a centra-l opening 13 of small iameter leading from the passage 8 to .the interior of the reservoir, the inner end of the assage 8 is tapered to form avalve-seat 14 or a cone shaped valereiece 15 adapted to. close the passage i3. his valve-piece 15 is pressed toward its seat 14 by a spring 16, the valve being thus non mally closed, whereby the escape of liquid from the reservoir is prevented.

The rear end of the reservoir 6 is nirovided with a ca 17 adapted to be slip ed en over the end o the reservoir 6 and to aout a raised reservoir 6. The extreme end of the reservoir is formed with an inturned flange 18a. A movable plu or button 19 is arranged to reciprocate Wit in the cap 17, and is pressed rearwardly by aspring 20, this spring being seated against the inturned flange 18a on the reservoir The cap 17 is formed with an opening .2i through which th'e thumb or finger oi the operator may be inserted to press the button 19 inward.- A stem tudinally and centrally through the reservoir 6 and is provided at its rear end with screw threads 23 adapted to take into a screw threaded aperture in the button 19. This stem 23 has arranged thereon, and against the end of the button 19a, a soft rubber washer 24 adapted to be normali seated against the inturned flange 18L by tne act? o the spring 20. A disk 25, of metal or i.' rubber, is secured to the rod 22 and so* ranged that when the button 19 and rod 22 the spring 26 the are moved backward by soft rubber Washer 24 is iirmly hele. the flange and the disk 2,5. The disk 25 washer 24 thus form a plunger or piston adapted to reciprocate in the reservoir Means are provided for maintaining the e posite end of the rod 22 in the center ci tee reservoir 6,such means convenientlyconsist ing of a substantially triangular plate 26 se cured on the rod22. The rod 22, when moved longitudinally by the pressure ci the or rod 22 extends iongi lift@ l f finger on the button 19, strikes the valve piece 15 and moves away from its seat, therey permitting the liow of liquid from thev reservoir 6 into the passage 8 and thence outward through the tube or duct 12.

In use, the reservoir will be filled with dentifrice by removing the end-piece 7 and pour- -ing into the open end of the reservoir thedewithin the reservoir in excess of atmos heric pressure. At the same time the val e l5 is opened by the pressure of the end of the rod 22 against this valve and the li uid is eX- pelled and is thrown onto the brlstles 27 of the brush 5. When the finger of the operator is removed from the button 19, the spring 20 forces the piston backward and into engagement with the flange 18?; at the same time the spring 16 thrusts the valve-piece 15 into engagement with its seat 14. The yalvepiece 15 will not abut its seat 14 until the piston has reached or nearly reached the limit of its movement in the outward direction, air being thus ermitted to find its way back through the tu e 12 and passage 9 and past the valve-piece 15 so as to prevent the formation of any vacuum within the reservoir 6. The piston being firml seated a ainst the flange 18a, there is no eakage of iquid at this point.

It has been proposed to rov'ide a long duct extending among the ristles of the brush and provided with openings along itsl sides for the assage of liqiud to the bristles. One of the o jections to such a construction is that the bristles are placed along the brush in rows lying close together and the insertion of a tube among these bristles bends them apart and injures the brush. If aV special brush be made having a row of bristles omitted therefrom so as to provide space for the tube the appearance and efliciency'of the brush are impaired. The most serious objection, however, to such a construction, is that the tube, if made small enough for the purpose, is so small as to be readily clogged. uP

y the drying of the dentifrice. This liquid is a sweetened substance which on drying will clog `up any small openings. In my device I make the tube of large enough diameter to prevent such clogging and by forIning the opening in the end of the'tubeand projecting the llquid from this open end upon the bristles I overcome the defects inherent in devices such as outlined above.

As is'well known, if vatube filled or partly filled with liquid be closed at one end and held with the opposite end down, the liquid contained therein will not readily run out of the lower open end `'ofy the tube, because of,

atmospheric pressure, especially if the lower end of the tube be somewhat contracted. To permit the liquid lto iio'w from the open end of such a tube an opening must be made Somewhere in the tube to admit air, or, if this is undesirable, some means may be provided for decreasin the volume of the space within the tub'e, as y the inward movement of a piston.

It will be seen that in the device hereinabove described, and shown in. the accom- -panying drawings, I have provided a piston or plunger which is ada ted, by the pressure of the finger appliedv t ereto, to be moved forward in the tubular reservoir, thus d'e-l creasing the volume of the space within thereservoir. Thisy tends to' create pressure within the tube in excess of atmospheric pres` sure and if an opening be provided through which the liquid may escape and the device be held in such a position that this opening is covered by the liquid, a quantity of :iid

will evidently be expelled` with considerable.

force through this opening.

It will be seen that I have provided means whereby the forward movement of the piston is accompanied by the openin of the passage leading to the bristles of the rush. As the area ofthe piston is much greater than that of the opening, va slight inward movement of the piston will force a considerable amount ofy liquid through this opening. Uponthe rearward movement of the piston andthe consequent tendency to the formationrgof.. a

vacuum within the device, air is permitted' to pass inward through the opening and the valve 15 does not become seated so as .to close this opening until the piston has practically lreached the limit of its rearward,

movement.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to' secure by Letters Patent is: 1. In a fountain brush, ahandle for the brush andy adapted to contain liquid, said tube having an inturneu flange on one of its ends, a plunger working in said tube, a s ring adapted to move said plunger toward the end of the tube and normally to hold the same in contact with said flange, means for manually moving said plunger forward in said tube, and a spring-y' closed valve at the opposite -end of the tube,

adapted to be opened vupon forward movement of the plunger, and a cap covering said spring and provided with an opening aording access to the plunger,

2. In a fountain brush, a reservoir-handle,-

a brush carried thereby having a neckand tufts of bristles arranged non-parallel lwith the axis of said neck, said reservoir-handle a'jtube constituting y having a duct leading to 'said bristles without passing through the neck and open at its end only, a valve in said duct, means for manually opening said valve and a piston operatlng in said reservoir-handle for mcreasing the 

